Speed Goal Accomplished
February 5th, 2024
The Bucs did more than just emerge as a winner this season.
There was a collective team goal to get faster, per Rondé Barber, Bucs icon and team website personality and Bucs preseason TV analyst. Barber was on NFL Network recently talking about how Todd Bowles and Ring of Honor general manager Jason Licht accomplished that goal in the form of rookie receiver Trey Palmer and Calijah Kancey.
Joe would say that Palmer is no faster than former Bucs receiver Scotty Miller was, but Palmer is better and he saw the field a lot more. So the Bucs did get faster at receiver. Kancey, obviously, was a major quickness upgrade at defensive tackle.
The Bucs will lose speed in the form of Devin White, who is sure to bolt in free agency. Joe wonders if the front office will try to make up that speed or will stick with K.J. Britt. The Bucs could use more juice at safety, too, and at running back.
Overall, Barber has much love for the Bucs meeting their goals, which Barber says were very high internally.
“I thought they built this team to compete, and they did. All they needed was a quarterback, and that was Baker Mayfield,” Barber said. “This is a good football team.”
February 5th, 2024 at 11:09 am
White has great speed (4.42)……..but was misused and his speed didn’t transfer to performance for the last couple of years.
We have 2 4.3 corners in Dean & Zion.
Dave Moore has 4.43 speed but looks faster on the field.
We need to keep up the quest for speed.
February 5th, 2024 at 11:10 am
I don’t think Canales really used Palmer’s speed, I was expecting more deep balls to him. He did seem to struggle on deeper passes locating the ball while keeping his speed up. Baker really needs to work on his connections with ME and Palmer on the deep throws in the off-season.
Kancey was obviously a force, showing improvement through the year.
Britt and LVD are quick and it was great seeing Britt getting some very badly needed reps. I don’t see LVD lasting more than 1 more year, at most. Who will be the ILB’s once LVD retires? This coming draft is sparse in good ILB’s, so I wouldn’t be surprised for us to draft one in rd2 or rd3 to pair with Britt.
February 5th, 2024 at 11:22 am
LVD showed a short burst of speed in his tackle for loss of eagles RB the play before
the safety.
February 5th, 2024 at 11:36 am
That other rookie from Pitt Dennis the LB. He may play a lot next year. He seems to be a smaller LB. Hopefully he has good speed
February 5th, 2024 at 11:37 am
I was very happy how some of the young players developed in their first year.
They won’t all take a step forward in their 2nd year but if 75% of them do, that will be a really strong base for us.
Now if my name was “realistic-optimistic” instead of just saying negative things, I might actually say this:
From last year the following rookies showed they belonged:
Kancey
Mauch
Palmer
YaYa
and
Izen
So, many of young players make strides in their 2nd season.
Then you have the other guys who actually got on the field and although they were not big-time players, but we really do not remember any horrible play from them either:
That would be Hayes
and
Durham
They can improve to more frequent contributors.
Lastly,
Who is to say that guys like Tucker and Jose Ramirez can’t be contributors this coming season.
But that is what someone with the name “realistic-optimistic” might say. Not someone that wants to troll most of the Bucs and their coaches.
February 5th, 2024 at 11:40 am
JimBob, KB is not fast! DW is a faster linebacker. KB has trouble defending the pass. DW even more so. What KB lacks in speed he makes up for in reaction time and reliability. He knows his job and does his best to perform it. DW has trouble reacting to plays and is often in the wrong spot because of that. DW has a better skill set, including speed, but not the quick reaction time to provide consistency.
February 5th, 2024 at 11:51 am
When I think of Palmer , I think of the agony , and the ecstasy. The agony: excessive, critical holding calls during drives, and a sure td drop vs Indy. The ecstasy : great acrobatic td grab vs saints, and that beautiful pull away td vs Philly in playoff win. I expect a breakout year from him next season.
February 5th, 2024 at 11:54 am
Yup, David Moore showed way more speed / quickness than Palmer did.
Hopefully Palmer, along with our new OC, will figure out how to put his speed to better use now that he has a full year of NFL experience.
February 5th, 2024 at 11:55 am
TBBF … ‘White has great speed (4.42)……..but was misused and his speed didn’t transfer to performance for the last couple of years.’
That’s one of the things that had me buffaloed this past year. Several articles I’ve read on that indicate that Devin was allowed to ‘freelance’ a lot more in his first couple years, but was reined in these past couple, forcing him to play more ‘within the scheme of the defense’.
Obviously didn’t make him very happy, but it MIGHT have helped the Bucs overall. His pass coverage during his first 2 years was not that great (112 catches in 140 targets … 80.0%), and even through his 3rd year is was just meh (82.1%). But it improved quite a bit these last 2 years (he allowed 75 catches in 103 targets … 72.8% completions). And as we all saw, he didn’t blitz nearly as much (70 blitzes per year average over the past 2 years, as opposed to 100 blitzes per year average over his first 3 years).
Noticed today that his Market Value has dropped significantly. It was around $20 mil earlier in the season, but it’s now down to $10.7 mil. Steep hit.
February 5th, 2024 at 11:57 am
Wait Ronde’ Barber endorses Baker Mayfield? He didn’t consult with D Cone, Rod Munch, optimistic realistic, and the rest? When one pro after another lines up in the Mayfield camp, it makes the haters sound that much more absurd with their Mayfield analysis.
February 5th, 2024 at 12:36 pm
Now draft a fast Bruiser Fullback.
February 5th, 2024 at 12:54 pm
Palmer can run routes. Miller runs a route.
Big difference.
February 5th, 2024 at 12:56 pm
BTW, in my world, quick > fast. Sudden is combining both.
Kancey is quick. He can also be sudden.
February 5th, 2024 at 2:11 pm
Wow what a difference a week makes. All of the sudden I’m seeing an influx of #teampositive over the #teamnegative guys.
Next season will be a brand new start as it is every year. It appears however the cupboard is not really bare in Bucsland.
February 5th, 2024 at 2:30 pm
I think Palmer will smoke Scotty.
February 5th, 2024 at 3:06 pm
A lot to build on and anyone who disagrees doesn’t know football all that well.
February 5th, 2024 at 5:09 pm
If they can avoid (fix) the 6 game downer they had mid-season this year they should be contenders next year. A reasonable shot at winning the devision and making the playoffs would be great. Anything more would be gravey. Guess I will go fishing a lot until next season.
February 5th, 2024 at 5:22 pm
geno711 … ‘I was very happy how some of the young players developed in their first year.’
I was too. That’s a credit not only to the players themselves, but also to JL in the selection process and to Todd Bowles & his coaching staff for how they developed them.
Snap count can probably tell analysts a lot about how quickly a player developed & much the coaching staff trusts them. Some rookies developed real fast & obviously won the trust of the coaches:
1 – Cody Mauch (17 games – 1103 off snaps – 100%)
2 – Christian Izien (17 games – 719 def snaps – 64%)
3 – Trey Palmer (17 games – 718 off snaps – 65%)
4 – Calijah Kancey (14 games – 577 def snaps – 51%)
5 – Ya Ya Diaby (17 games – 515 def snaps – 46%)
6 – Mike Greene (10 games – 168 def snaps – 15%)
7 – Kaevon Merriweather (16 games – 159 def snaps – 14%)
8 – Payne Durham (13 games – 128 off snaps – 12%)
9 – Rakim Jarrett (10 games – 115 off snaps – 10%)
10 – Sean Tucker (11 games – 32 off snaps – 3%)
11 – Josh Hayes (15 games – 29 def snaps – 3%)
12 – Derek Pitts (4 games – 18 def snaps – 2%)
13 – Keenan Isaac (2 games – 0 def snaps – 0% but S/Ts)
That’s 3,178 offensive & defensive snaps … for our ROOKIES … the equivalent of 3 players getting 100% snaps. THAT’S QUITE IMPRESSIVE IMO.
February 5th, 2024 at 5:28 pm
They should have played Yaya and kancy a lot more early on.
February 5th, 2024 at 7:05 pm
@Defense Rules – Great post!
It IS unbeleievable that we didn’t just get plays, we got STARTS from those draft picks and remembering many of those guys playing well in key plays of important games!
February 5th, 2024 at 7:14 pm
Palmers frame with that speed automatically makes him surpass Scotty and most importantly he doesn’t just jump for the hell of it to catch the ball. Kancey is an athletic freak and I can wait to see him hit the NFL weight room.
February 5th, 2024 at 10:11 pm
Kancey needs to move in with Aaron Donald. I’m sure Donald wouldn’t mind hosting a fellow Pitt alumn. He needs to do Donald’s laundry and cook for him and in return Aaron can mentor him and show him how to become a 1st ballot HOF’r
February 5th, 2024 at 11:54 pm
Yaya seems fast too.
Definitely need another fast LB because Britt is too slow for full-time and LVD is getting up there, even though he does not seem to have lost a step yet
They still have Jarrett at receiver, who can fly and was barely used.
Tucker is a home run hitting running back who I expect to see a lot more of.